'Direct From Pluto': Science Channel to Air New Horizons' Flyby Images

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With less than nine days to go in its nine-year journey to Pluto,
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on the verge of delivering the
first up-close images of the mysterious dwarf planet.

And when those historic images arrive on Earth, they are set to
star in a new hour-long special, " Direct
from Pluto: The First Encounter," premiering on the Science
Channel on Wednesday, July 15, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

"Science Channel viewers will see the very first close-up images
of Pluto's surface and its moons, and learn more as leading
experts discuss the previous planet's status as well as uncover
some surprising research," the channel described in a release
shared with collectSPACE.com. [ Destination
Pluto: NASA's New Horizons Mission in Pictures ]

Launched on Jan. 19, 2006, New Horizons set a speed record by
reaching the moon in just nine hours — 10 times faster than any
Apollo mission. Still, it took almost a decade for the
piano-sized spacecraft to travel the more than 3 billion miles (5
billion kilometers)
to reach Pluto, where it is set to make its closest approach
on July 14, completing the initial reconnaissance of the
classical solar system.

Already the probe has sent back images of the reddish-brown dwarf
planet that surpass anything available before. The latest photos
have revealed intriguing large dark spots of unknown origin.

"It's a real puzzle – we don't know what the spots are, and we
can't wait to find out," principal investigator Alan Stern of the
Southwest Research Institute, in Colorado, said in a NASA
statement. "Also puzzling is the longstanding and dramatic
difference in the colors and appearance of Pluto compared to its
darker and grayer moon Charon."

On Saturday (July 4), New Horizons lost communications with Earth
as the result of a timing flaw in the spacecraft's command
sequence that occurred during an operation to prepare it for the
close flyby. The probe entered a safe mode, which temporarily
halted its normal science operations.

But mission officials said the minor issue would not affect New
Horizons' flyby and that data collection would resume by Tuesday
(July 7).

"Now — with Pluto in our sights — we're on the verge of returning
to normal operations and going for the gold," Jim Green, NASA's
director of planetary science,
said
Sunday (July 5)
in a statement.

Science Channel's "Direct from Pluto" will be on site to go
behind the scenes at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL) in Maryland, home to New
Horizons ' mission control,
during the flyby, while also exploring the history of Pluto's
discovery and reclassification as a dwarf planet.

"[Pluto's] rise as a planetary rock star and its decline to dwarf
planet status are explored," the channel stated in its release.
"Diving into fierce debates between astronomers and planetary
scientists, 'Direct' will feature Pluto's biggest supporters and
detractors."

In addition to being at APL for the flyby, the special filmed
interviews at the Dwarf Planet Pride Day in Seattle and at Lowell
Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where Pluto was discovered in
1930.

Directed by Shelley Ayres, "Direct from Pluto" is produced for
the Science Channel by Exploration Production Inc. of Discovery
Canada.